Canada rugby sevens men suffer lopsided loss to host New Zealand at World Series

HAMILTON, New Zealand — New Zealand ran in seven tries to thump Canada 49-10 Friday at the New Zealand Sevens.

The lopsided loss dropped the Canadian men to 0-1-1 on Day 1 of the third stop on the HSBC World Rugby World Series. New Zealand, which blanked Japan 52-0 in its other opening Pool D match, improved to 2-0-0.

Canada was scheduled to play Japan in its final game of the day.

Canada had a nightmarish start to the New Zealand match with Vilimoni Koroi taking the opening kickoff and running unmolested for a try just nine seconds in.

Regan Ware’s converted try made it 14-0 in the third minute, punishing the Canadians for a penalty turnover. Ware touched down again in the fifth minute after a slick offload from Sam Dickson for a 21-0 lead.

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Things got worse when Mike Fuailefau was sin-binned with 1:20 left in the first half for a neck roll at the breakdown. Scott Curry then scored under the post off the ensuing penalty to increase the Kiwi lead to 28-0.

Canada’s Cole Davis, who collected his first senior sevens cap earlier in the day in a 12-12 tie with Spain, came close to scoring late in the half but was finally pulled down.

Justin Douglas put Canada on the board early in the second half, outracing the New Zealand defence down the sideline for the 127th try of his career, extending his Canadian try-scoring record while cutting the lead to 28-5.

Davis, off a penalty, then bulled his way over the line for his first try on the circuit to make it 28-10.

But Joe Ravouvou gathered in the restart and accelerated towards the Canadian tryline to make it 35-10. Sione Molia and Andrew Knewstubb notched late tries to add to the Canadian pain.

New Zealand came into the tournament in second place overall after the first two events in Dubai and Cape Town. The U.S. topped the table with Olympic champion Fiji in third ahead of England and defending World Series champion South Africa.

The top four teams after the 10-event season earns automatic qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Other teams will then have to go through regional Olympic qualifying events.

Canada, ranked 12th overall, settled for a 12-12 tie in its opening match with No. 9 Spain after giving up a late try. Canada had won 12 of 16 previous meetings between the two.

Fuailefau, who has been out since the Rugby World Cup Sevens last July due to ankle surgery, scored a try in his comeback game. Isaac Kaay also scored for Canada, which led 5-0 at the half, with captain Nate Hirayama adding a conversion.

Spain was coming off a 20-try performance in Cape Town, the most in a tournament in their history. It was good for a sixth-place finish, while Canada tied for 11th.

Also in Pool D, Spain downed Japan 22-19.

Canada, whose preparations were disrupted by a two-month labour dispute, tied for 11th in both Dubai and Cape Town.

The Canadian Press